When an old man prepares for open-heart surgery, he maintains a confident demeanor and so does his good wife. He has an excellent surgeon and the procedure has been around since he was a teenager, pioneered by Dr Walt Lillehei of Minneapolis. All is well. Stay calm and pull your socks up.
“I come from fundamentalist Scots who would’ve looked on heart surgery as a waste of money”
The old man is me and Dr Lillehei attended the University of Minnesota, as I did, but he did not major in English as I did, nor did he write surreal poetry and doomsday fiction that took a stab at cynicism. I come from fundamentalist Scots who would’ve looked on heart surgery as a waste of money. The heart is sinful and heart disease is caused by rich living and can be remedied by physical labour, thinner dinners and prayer. Dr Lillehei came from progressive Norwegians and he had more curiosity.
I’ve been down this road before, July 2001, under Dr Orszulak at Mayo, and I rolled into the OR feeling quite chipper, prepared to joke around, and then the anesthesiologist did something and I disappeared. I awoke with an angelic being in blue scrubs whispering to me. I went home for a pleasant couple of weeks lounging in the backyard and resumed life.
Of course, I am 20 years older now and things could be different. So the patient tries to gain a clear look at his own life.
